john m flores 

Is that how you got here?

Come on now, the Internet was not made you. It's for folks to share. If you don't like what's being discussed and can't add anything productive, just skip the thread.

I'll add that not all gravel is not created equal and that's why we don't have a consensus on what a gravel bike is.

mstateglfr 

Is what how I got here? I don't k[size=33px]now what you are asking when you ask if this is how I got here.
How I got here was I opened a browser and scrolled thru the handful of forums on this site that I visit. [/size]

Thanks for letting me know I have the power to skip a thread.***

As I said in my post, I am very aware of why the thread exists and is stickied. But it's also pretty absurd.

You say there are different types of gravel? Oh man, thanks.**&

This place was bumping 3-5 years ago. It's now a caricature of its former self, and this is one of many glaring examples that show it's decline.

john m flores 

Slow Friday night for you, huh?

mstateglfr 

...coming from someone posting at the same time.
Good one.***

john m flores 

Yup. This morning I wrote captions for a motorcycle review that's going to press soon (in October I went to Spain for the press launch of BMW's new bike), then I went mountain biking, made some videos of the ride, then I cooked some salmon for dinner. I also looked at drone footage from my trip to the Philippines earlier this year as well as thought about the story I'm writing about a recent motorcycle trip to West Virginia.

I came here because I rode a gravel bike on singletrack and wanted to see what people were saying. All I saw was you complaining. Other than that, I had a decent day.

Have a nice night.

mstateglfr 

Cool story.
Looks like we both had fun days and quiet nights. Of all you saw on the entire gravel forum was my post, you missed a lot of content that was right in front of you.

Russ Roth

My gravel bike maxes at 2" tires as long as they aren't too knobby, we run 21mm internal width rims and switch between 38c and 2" depending on purpose. Doing a local gravel race/ride we run the 38, though the last race I did with my daughter the 38 wasn't a good size for the final large descent at any real speed. Basically a seasonal highway/jeep trail with excessive washboard, washout, and deep potholes but really steep. Problem was the rest of the course had a lot of pavement making wider slow. 2" are for gravel tours, something where we're going to load it down and hit what every level of possible terrain. We're planning to ride the VTXLnext year which will require 2".

Gravel bike on a 42c tire is a fun time. Here on the island we have several levels of singletrack, places bike bethpage and edgewood which are both state parks/preserves are fun on cross bikes, edgewood's white and yellow label trails rip on cross, blue trails have too many knobby stumps sticking up and aren't much fun on a mtb, but the red trails, which are the hardest in there are fun on a gravel bike. Both can be kind of boring on mtb so the gravel bike can add some enjoyment. Plenty of others will make it exciting, glacier ridge, glacier 8, cunningham, are all more technical, glacier ridge is undeserving of its black diamond/most difficult rating imho but is a blast to rip on a hardtail and challenging on a gravel bike. But places like hempstead harbor with its expert only trails mixed in is a hazard on gravel while a few of the remaining places, like cathedral pines, have so much roots in the trail that it isn't enjoyable bouncing over on a hardtail let alone a fully rigid gravel bike. I think singletrack really is heavily dependent.

HTupolev

A gravel bike is a bike with a frame made of gravel. Problem solved. Close the thread.

unterhausen

I don't know why this thread is stickied, but the most recent answer is because I forgot to unstick it. We have had a number of threads in this subforum asking the same question. That's because stickies are invisible.

On edit: unstuck now.

50PlusCycling

It’s the next “big thing” in cycling. Mountain bikes are no longer 85% of the bicycle market, the recent boom in road bikes is still going strong, but, like mountain bikes, their current popularity will necessarily wane. Gravel bikes offer a little bit of both genres, you could call it a road bike adapted to the trail, or a mountain bike adapted to the road. It’s not a bad idea, a bike which can do a little bit of everything.

I built one myself, as I wanted something for touring around Japan. The roads here vary from silky-smooth urban roadways to riverside paths to single track, to rugged, boulder-strewn paths. Neither my road bike nor my mountain bike offer much in the way of options for mounting racks, fenders, or other accessories, so I decided to build a “gravel bike” and see what it was like.

I bought an All City Space Horse frame, a Shimano GRX 12 speed driveline, some Mavic All Road wheels, and the other necessary bits and pieces. The only difficult part about setting up the bike is the 12 speed driveline, the GRX derailleur works with 12 speed micro spline cassettes, so I had to choose wheels with a micro spline option. The finished bike is much lighter than I expected, and is a blast to ride.

JustinHS777

Back in 2015, when I first got back into cycling, I put road bike drops and 35C Specialized Tracer and a knobby Maxxis on a 92 Miyata Triple Cross. I didn't even know about gravel biking at the time. I just knew I wanted drop bars and tires that were capable of going over more than just pavement. That was back when we were young and innocent. Now, the industry is going hog wild on this new genre. I still have that mindset now where it's gravel capable, but not a legit gravel bike.

mstateglfr 

This thread in gif form...


And





It's a thread about a subject/question that has been asked, answered, and debated well past the point of usefulness in every form of cycling media- furums, YouTube, podcast, blogs,and sites. It wasn't beneficial when it was stickied, was thankfully unstickied, and yet it still won't go away.

axelwik

My 1990s no-suspension mountain bike is my "gravel bike." It's also a touring bike, city bike, or whatever else I'd like to call it.

I think "gravel bikes" are great at making more money for bike and accessory manufacturers.